Champions League round of 16
Bad luck for RB Leipzig: Real star Vinicius Jr. should have seen red
Lucky that he sees yellow instead of red after Leipzig’s Willi Orban hit the neck: Vinicius Jr.
© Jan Woitas / DPA
It was a decisive scene in the game: After a duel in the Champions League round of 16, Real superstar Vinicius Jr. Leipzig’s Willi Orban rustically grabbed his neck – and only saw yellow. Shortly afterwards he scored the opening goal.
Orban saw it the same way after the game: “It’s a clear grab for the neck, the ball was completely somewhere else. You can give a red card,” he said. The decision was particularly bitter because Vinicius Jr. eleven minutes later scored the decisive goal to make it 1-0. Leipzig equalized a little later with a header from Orban, but it was no longer enough to advance.
Leipzig had already been disadvantaged by a referee’s decision in the first leg when a regular goal by Benjamin Sesko was disallowed.
RB Leipzig fails due to a lack of exploitation of opportunities
But coach Marco Rose’s team also failed due to their own inability. Despite good opportunities, they failed to score more goals. “The referees weren’t in our favor in either game. Nevertheless, we had huge chances, so we have to take responsibility ourselves. We had so many 100 percent chances today that we should have taken advantage of,” Orban admitted. “That’s why we have to take a look at our own noses. But the scenes weren’t whistled for us.”
Full-back Benjamin Henrich also didn’t want to blame the referee for the elimination: “We had enough chances to win the game,” he said. “It’s really brutally disappointing right now.”